{"id":1311,"date":"2026-10-27T11:00:54","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T17:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/?p=1311"},"modified":"2026-10-27T11:00:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T17:00:59","slug":"americas-unlikely-unrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2026\/10\/27\/americas-unlikely-unrest\/","title":{"rendered":"<a href=\"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.substack.com\/p\/americas-unlikely-unrest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">America\u2019s Unlikely Unrest<\/a>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2><em>Why I Believe America is Not Headed in the Same Direction as France<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/france-1024x512.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1312\" width=\"753\" height=\"377\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/france-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/france-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/france-768x384.jpg 768w, https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/france-1536x768.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/france.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__list wp-block-latest-posts\"><li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2026\/10\/27\/americas-unlikely-unrest\/\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.substack.com\/p\/americas-unlikely-unrest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">America\u2019s Unlikely Unrest<\/a><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2026\/09\/29\/darby-saxbes-advice-to-steven-bartlett\/\">Darby Saxbe\u2019s Advice to Steven Bartlett<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2026\/09\/23\/undiagnosed\/\">Undiagnosed<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2026\/09\/08\/i-am-sowellian\/\">I Am Sowellian<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2026\/09\/08\/capitalism-didnt-create-human-nature\/\">Capitalism Didn\u2019t Create Human Nature<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Everything cited in this article is from \u201cIntellectuals and Society\u201d, by Thomas Sowell.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>With the unrest in France, I hear many saying, <em>\u201cThis could happen in America! Beware!\u201d<\/em> While I appreciate the sentiment, I have reasons why I don\u2019t think this will ever happen in America. It could possibly happen in Minnesota, New York, California, Michigan, or Oregon, but not America. The country as a whole, the vast majority, will never let this happen. I\u2019ll explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>World War II<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1940, the French and British military had both resources and technology that far outmatched that of the German forces. Many advisers to Hitler repeatedly warned him to wait until he could match those countries in might. Hitler recognized something that even Prime Minister Chamberlain later recanted into agreement with. Hitler stood by and watched for the last several years as the French and British were passive. Their passivity moved into blind acceptance. Such blind acceptance moved into outrage at anyone in disagreement. Thus began the cancel culture of the 1930s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among the intelligentsia, Bertrand Russell, H.G. Wells, Aldous Huxley, among many others, building arms was a sign of malintent, a murderous nature, and neanderthal politics. Bertrand Russell brought an argument to the table that dated back to William Condorcet in which there could be no reason to attack a country that posed no threat. Russell stated,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p><em>\u201cWhen disarmament is suggested, it is natural to imagine that foreign conquest would inevitably follow and would be accompanied by all the horrors that characterize warlike invasions. This is a mistake, as Denmark shows. Probably, if we had neither armaments nor Empire, foreign states would let us alone. If they did not, we should have to yield without fighting, and we should therefore not arouse their ferocity.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Here you see such passivism being espoused by the \u201csmartest\u201d of their time. John Dewey said in 1922:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p><em>\u201cIf we succeed in really understanding each other, some way of cooperation for common ends can be found.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2>Vietnam War<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This concept continues through history when Communist military leader General Vo Nguyen Giap, who defeated the French in battle in 1954, and later commanded North Vietnamese forces against Americans, said,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p><em>\u201cWe are not strong enough to drive out a half-million American troops, but that wasn\u2019t the goal.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The goal was to break the will of the American government and people. They had watched American news and witnessed the rally against America being involved in war. They knew the resolve of the American people had weakened. Consequently, they capitalized on this for their victories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Cold War<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Again, in the Cold War, many elite, so-called, intelligentsia, criticized Reagan for quickly building arms and standing face to face with Gorbachev calling his bluff. Gorbachev was looking for that same passivist from the former Hollywood actor that Nguyen saw in America in the 1960s and Hitler saw in France in the 1930s. Reagan did not oblige. Following attack after attack on Reagan\u2019s character and inability to lead this nation, along with predictions from the morally elite of nuclear war as a result of Reagan&#8217;s policies, the actual results were silencing. Reagan was right. Sowell puts it this way,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p><em>\u201cThe fact that the consequence of Reagan\u2019s policy was the direct opposite of what the \u2018arms race\u2019 argument had predicted, that is, the consequence was the end of the Cold War, rather than the beginning of a nuclear war, has had as little effect on the prevailing vision [of the anointed] as other facts which directly contradict other premises of that vision.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>This beckons back to the idea by Thomas Sowell of different visions. Sowell wrote,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p><em>\u201cThe vision of the anointed is a vision of intellectual and moral elites being surrogate decision-makers, imposing an over-arching common purpose to supersede the disparate and conflicting individual purposes and individual decisions of the population at large. The power of the intelligentsia is demonstrated not only by their ability to create a general climate of opinion that strikes fear into those who oppose their agenda but also by their ability to create a climate of opinion which richly rewards those political leaders whose decisions are consonant with the vision of the intelligentsia.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As we see here, such passivism not only espoused but required in order to be considered of the elite, lest you risk being ostracized, ridiculed, hated, or violently attacked, has been the <em>modus operandi<\/em> for such anointed leaders throughout history. These \u201cgeniuses\u201d are who I have learned to ignore when it comes to issues of societal consequence. They present an idea, attack you with emotionally driven insults when you do not assimilate, the idea is tested and proven false, they shift the narrative to remove culpability, all the while, they bear no cost for being as wrong as they were, yet still dodge the cold fact they were wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>George Washington realized at one point he was leading a band of misfits. He was outnumbered, inferior in weapons and technology, and lacked any real experience among those he led. But he fought anyway. He eventually, after much ridicule, rallied troops to a very unlikely victory against the British Empire. He was the underdog. This is why we love a good underdog story. Because we were once the underdog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We simply are not a country that lays down and takes whatever you send our direction. The vast majority of our country\u2019s population does not embrace passivism. There are certainly areas that will embrace such infectious culture. But by and large, passivism will not take root throughout the majority of our country. We are not built like the British, French, or the Germans. We are American. We fight. We will fight <em>for <\/em>something and we will fight <em>against <\/em>something, but we will fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In short, this is why I believe America as a nation will never become France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stay Classy GP!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Grainger<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why I Believe America is Not Headed in the Same Direction as France Everything cited in this article is from \u201cIntellectuals and Society\u201d, by Thomas Sowell. With the unrest in France, I hear many saying, \u201cThis could happen in America! Beware!\u201d While I appreciate the sentiment, I have reasons why I don\u2019t think this will &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2026\/10\/27\/americas-unlikely-unrest\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.substack.com\/p\/americas-unlikely-unrest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">America\u2019s Unlikely Unrest<\/a>&#8220;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1311"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1313,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311\/revisions\/1313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidbitsofaudacity.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}